St Cuthbert's Cave

St Cuthbert's Cave

Overview

St Cuthbert's Cave Walk Directions

1. Turn left out of the car park and follow the track up the hill signed for St. Cuthbert’s Cave.At the gate and stile at the top of the track turn right, and follow the grassy track through the gorse, keeping to the right as the path splits. Go to a gate in the corner of the wood. Pass through the gate and after a short distance turn left up to St. Cuthbert’s Cave, the rock outcrop in the clearing ahead.

2. As there is no exit above the cave, please walk back to the gate in the corner of the wood, turn right and walk uphill alongside the wood to reach a waymarked gate at the top of the hill, from which you may see Holy Island in the distance.

3. Pass through this gate and then the gate on your left, and bear right, following the waymarker posts through the gorse and go downhill to a footbridge with gates on either end.

4. Cross the bridge and go straight ahead, uphill, to a gate. Continue ahead over a slight rise, and aim for a gate and stile on the left side of the gorse covered hill in front. Turn left onto the stone track and follow it to the woodland.

5. Continue through a gate into the forestry plantation and go straight ahead along the track. At the track junction continue straight ahead, signposted to Holburn.Continue along this track which eventually goes through a gate and bends left. After a short distance the track bends right, and this is where you can see Holburn Lake on your left.Continue along the track as it passes below Raven’s Crag.

6. The track passes through a gate, and bends left. Continue along this track, which eventually turns right through a gate, until you reach the end of the stone wall. Leave the track and turn left through a gate in the wall.

7. Continue along a grassy path for a short distance, pass through a gateway, and as the path begins to head left, bear right to a small gate in the fence.

8. Go through the small gate and downhill along the field edge to a metal gate in the edge of the woodland. Go through the wood, and at the next gate continue straight ahead along the edge of the field, and to a gate on the road.

9. Turn left along the road and follow it back to Holburn Grange farm. Turn left at the junction and back to the car park, which is on the left past the cottages.

Points of Interest

St. Cuthbert’s Cave is an overhanging outcrop of Sandstone rock, supported by an isolated pillar of stone. It is reputed that the monks of Lindisfarne brought St. Cuthbert’s body to this place in AD875 following Viking raids on the Island.

In the Mid 19th Century the entrance was enclosed by a stone wall and used as a ‘lambing shed’.

Once owned by the Leather family, the area was for a time the family burial place, being consecrated in 1936. Memorials to members of the family can be seen on isolated sandstone outcrops.

In 1981 the wood was given to the National Trust, who manage it today. (Please respect the area and leave it as you found it)

St. Cuthbert’s Cave is an overhanging outcrop of Sandstone rock, supported by an isolated pillar of stone. It is reputed that the monks of Lindisfarne brought St. Cuthbert’s body to this place in AD875 following Viking raids on the Island